Institutions and policies of the european union

1
Institutions and Policies of the European Union
Isabel Guillot Garcia
Mat.N; 6520987
isita15@msn.com
Paderborn, 07/2010
2
AGENDA
Institutions of the European Union…………………………………….3
Introduction…………………………………………………….3
European Commission…………………………………………...5
The Council of the European Union……………………………5
European Council……………………………………………….6
European Parliament…………………………………………….7European Court of Justice & Court of first Instance……………8
Policies in the European Union………………………………………….10
Agriculture………………………………………………………10
The Budget………………………………………………………12
Economic and Monetary Affair……………………………….…13
Regional Policy…………………………………………………..14
Conclusion…………………………………………………………...…..17
References……………………………………………………………….18
3
1 THE EU’S INSTITUTIONAL STRUCTURE
The uniquecharacter of the European Union in reflected in its institutional structure. The states has a particular feature, it is that they have a government. Within the European Union there is no a clearly defined a 'government'. Moreover, the Union's Institutional structures don’t have the three branches of Government. Elements of each of the above features of governance can be discerned in the Union’sinstitutions structure, but analogies can be misleading. Perhaps we should say that the European Union is made up of many parts and is very difficult for the union works perfectly, it is inspired by different ideas, frequently adapted and roughly tuned. The system comprises a network of interdependent institutions, none of which can function without reference to others.
The Union now contains so manyinstitutions that some attempt at classification is necessary. The most obvious classification is on the basic of what they do and the role they perform, as show in Table 1.1.
Institutions
Main Functions and Role
European Commission
(appointed)
Policy initiation; implementation; guardian of treaties; drafting budget; monitoring; troubleshooting; external relations; ‘motor’ of integration
Councilof European Union
(ministers)
Main legislative and decision making arm; adoption of budget; external relations.
European Council
(heads of government or state)
Guidance and strategic direction; decision-talking
European Parliament
(directly elected)
Legislative scrutiny, amendment and ‘co-decision’; assent; supervision; adoption of budget; discussion forum; redress of grievances.
EuropeanCourt of Justice
& Court of first Instance
(appointed)
Judicial interpretation and enforcement.
Economic and Social Committee
(appointed)
Advice and representation.
Committee of the Regions (appointed)
Advice and representation.
Court of Auditors (appointed)
Financial auditing.
European investment Bank (appointed)
Financial development projects.
European Central Bank (appointed)Monetary policy.
Other Institutions (appointed)
(…)
4
Table 1.1. The Main Functions and Role of the Institutions.1
After explain the main features of the institutions, now are going to explain with more detail the most important.
First, we are going to explain what the European Commission is.
The Commission is at the heart of the EU’s activities and performs major political, executive,legislative, administrative and monitoring tasks. The commission is sometimes referred to as a ‘civil service’ but this is misleading, It has considerably more formal power and a much broader range of responsibilities, than, say, the British civil service. It also performs functions which are more directly and overly political than a public bureaucracy. The Commission was originally conceived as anapolitical, ‘technocratic’ body, but its guiding, energizing and monitoring roles are clearly political. It is headed by a formidable team of career politicians and in at the centre of most new initiatives in the EU.
It is useful to divide the Commission into two categories: the executive Commission and the administrative Commission. The executive Commission performs roles somewhat similar in...